Process for preparing a gas-developing chewing gum

ABSTRACT

The gas-developing chewing gum of the invention is prepared by granulating carbonate or bicarbonate salt together with sodium sulfate or anhydrous sodium sulfate and at least one of sugars, polyphosphates and organic acid salts and dispersing sugar, fruit powder, fruit acid (organic acid) and flavoring ingredient throughout the resulting granules to form the gas-developing composition, which is then coated with or filled into the chewing gum.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a gas-developing (or sparkling) chewing gumand more particularly to a gas-developing chewing gum containing agas-developing composition in a central cavity thereof.

Heretofore, the gas-developing chewing gum is known from the Japanesepatent publication NO. 23035/71, which utilizes a gas-forming propertybased on reaction of a carbonate or bicarbonate salt with an acid,especially an organic acid. The conventional gas-developing chewing gum,however, has a fatal disadvantage for storage stability in that directcontact of the carbonate or bicarbonate salt with the organic acid anddispersion of the gas-developing composition throughout the chewing gumwithout any reaction-controlling measure cause the pressure reaction ofthe carbonate or bicarbonate salt with the organic acid in the presenceof moisture of the chewing gum, thereby to give off carbonic acid gasuselessly and to reduce a gas-developing effect considerably uponchewing.

Further, the gas-developing composition for a gas-developing drink isalso known, which employs sugars, polyphosphates or organic acid saltsas a stabilizer or excipient for the carbonate or bicarbonate salt. Whenthese materials are used, however, there arise disadvantages in that thesugars cause a browning phenomenon, that the polyphosphates make storageof the product difficult and that the organic acid salts have anintrinsic salty taste.

Now it has been found out that if the carbonate or bicarbonate salt isgranulated together with sodium sulfate or anhydrous sodium sulfate asthe stabilizer or excipient in place of or in combination with thesugars, polyphosphates and organic acid salts to form granules, intowhich are then mixed and dispersed the sugar powder, fruit powder, fruitacid and flavoring ingredient to prepare the gas-developing composition,the direct contact of the carbonate or bicarbonate salt with the acidcan be avoided, thereby preventing the premature reaction therebetween.Furthermore, it has been found out that if the resulting gas-developingcomposition is coated with or filled into the chewing gum, an adverseeffect of moisture present in or absorbed by the chewing gum on thestorage stability is significantly prevented and a good gas-developingperformance is maintained even if the moisture comes into contact withthe gas-developing composition, because the moisture is absorbed by alarge amount of the sugars dispersed throughout the composition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, a general object of the invention is to provide agas-developing (or sparkling) chewing gum which is prevented from thepremature reaction of the carbonate or bicarbonate salts with the acidand hence the reduction of the storage stability.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a process forpreparing a gas-developing chewing gum which comprises granulating acarbonate or bicarbonate salt together with sodium sulfate or anhydroussodium sulfate or together with a combination of sodium sulfate oranhydrous sodium sulfate with at least one of polyphosphates, sugars andorganic acid salts to form granules; dispersing sugar, fruit powder,fruit acid and flavoring ingredient throughout the granules to form agas-developing composition; and either coating the composition with achewing gum or filling the same into a central cavity of the chewinggum.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gas-developing (orsparkling) chewing gum prepared by the process described hereinbefore.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The carbonate or bicarbonate salt used for preparing the gas-developingcomposition of the invention includes alkli metal or alkali earth metalsalts which are acceptable for food use. Preferably, sodium bicarbonate(sodium hydrogen carbonate) is used on the economical and reactivereasons. Polyphosphates used as the stabilizer or excipient incombination with sodium sulfate or anhydrous sodium sulfate includemetaphosphates (such as sodium and potassium metaphosphates) and otherpolyphosphates. The sugars for the same purpose include sucrose,glucose, fructose, lactose, mannose and others. The organic acid saltsinclude tartarate, citrate, malate and any other organic acid saltswhich are acceptable for food use.

In order to granulate the components described hereinbefore anygranulating technique well-known in the food industry may be employed.For example, sodium sulfate or anhydrous sodium sulfate is added to andmixed with carbonate or bicarbonate salt, to which is then added wateror a solution of a binder and admixed by stirring. Thereafter, themixture may be subjected to a granulating machine for forming thegranules, which are then dried in a conventional manner. The granulesmay be formulated from about 0.5 to 2.5 parts by weight of anhydroussodium sulfate and 0 to about 5 parts by weight of the sugars,polyphosphates and organic acid salts in relation to 100 parts by weightof the main carbonate or bicarbonate salt.

In order to prepare the gas-developing composition of the invention,sugar, fruit powder, fruit acid and flavoring ingredient may bedispersed throughout the granules as prepared hereinbefore. The sugar tobe dispersed includes sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, mannose andthe like. The fruit powder may serve as an organic acid and a flavoringingredient and may be prepared from any kind of fruits materials bypreference. The fruit acid is used as an organic acid ingredient whichreacts with the carbonate or bicarbonate salt to give off carbonic acidgas, and includes tartaric, citric, malic and other organic acids. Theflavoring ingredient may be of any type of flavors well known in thefood industry, such as flavors for cola, cider and other sparklingdrinks. Both the sugar and the fruit acid to be dispersed may be addedpreferably in the granulate form similarly to the carbonate orbicarbonate granules. Thus, the fruit acid may be admixed and kneadedwith the sugar such as lactose or sucrose powder, and granulated to formacid granules showing uniform dispersibility and better solubility. Thesugar may also be used in the granulate form for the same purpose.

Dispersing operation for obtaining the gas-developing composition may beconducted in any well-known method, for example by homogeneouslyblending the granular components by means of a blender or disperser tosuch extent as not to break up the granules. The ingredients to bedispersed throughout the carbonate or bicarbonate granules may be in atotal amount of 5.50 to 6.00 parts by weight in relation to 100 parts byweight of the carbonate or bicarbonate granules, of which the fruit acidmay be from 90 to 150 parts by weight. For example, the preferredblending proportion of the gas-developing composition maybe shown asfollows:

    ______________________________________                                        Sugar (e.g. glucose) granules                                                                         65-82%                                                Carbonate or bicarbonate (e.g.                                                sodium bicarbonate) granules*                                                                         9-17.5%                                               Fruit acid (e.g. tartaric acid)                                               granules                9-17.5%                                               Flavor powder           0.05-0.2%                                             ______________________________________                                         *This granular ingredient is prepared by granulating the carbonate or         bicarbonate salt together with sodium sulfate or anhydrous sodium sulfate     and optionally with sugars, polyphosphates and organic acid salts.       

Finally, the gas-developing composition thus prepared is either coatedwith a chewing gum or filled into a central cavity of the latter toproduce a gas-developing chewing gum according to the invention. Thechewing gum surrounding the gas-developing composition may be of anytype such as a sugar-containing or sugarless type, and if desired abubble chewing gum may be utilized. The composition and the preparingmethod of these chewing gums are well known in the art. For example,about 20 parts of a gum base comprising 0 to 20 parts of a natural resin(such as chicle, jeltong), 15 to 25 parts of a natural wax, 20 to 30parts of a vinyl acetate resin, 15 to 25 parts of an ester gum, 5 to 20parts of a synthetic rubber and 25 to 30 parts of other additives (suchas a filler) may be kneaded with 40 to 60 parts of sucrose, 5 to 10parts of glucose, 5 to 10 parts of starch hydrolyzate syrup, 2 to 3parts of a softening agent, 0.5 to 1.0% of a flavor and 0.2 to 0.5% of acoloring agent to prepare the chewing gum, all the parts and percentagesbeing based on weight.

Coating or filling of the gas-developing composition may be carried outin any known technique. In order to fill the composition into thechewing gum, for example, the latter may be heated and extruded from anextruder while the gas-developing composition is injected into thecenter of the chewing gum. Thereafter, the filled chewing gum is cooledand stamped. Generally, the gas-developing composition is filled in anamount of 5 to 20 parts based on 80 to 95 parts of the chewing gum.Preferably, about 10 parts of the gas-developing composition is filledinto about 90 parts of the chewing gum. Alternatively, 0 to 5 parts ofthe gas-developing composition may be homogeneously dispersed in 95 to100 parts of the chewing gum and then 85 to 95 parts of the resultingchewing gum containing the dispersed composition may be used forsurrounding further 5 to 15 parts of the gas-developing composition.

In accordance with the gas-developing chewing gum of the invention, thedirect contact of the carbonate or bicarbonate salt with the acid agentmay be minimized and the gas-developing composition is located in thecenter of the chewing gum, so that the premature gas-forming reaction inthe presence of moisture of the chewing gum is effectively prevented andthe moisture accessible to the central gas-developing composition may bereadily absorbed by the large amount of dispersed sugar, resulting inthe excellent gas-developing (or sparkling) chewing gum having betterstorage stability than the conventional type. Accordingly, thegas-developing chewing gum according to the invention has more improvedlong-lasting gas-developing performance with a less amount of thegas-developing composition than the conventional type.

The following examples are presented solely for purposes of illustrationand should not be construed as limiting the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

Preparation of the sodium bicarbonate granules:

The following materials were mixed and granulated to form granules.

    ______________________________________                                        Sodium bicarbonate   95.0% by weight                                          Sodium metaphosphate 3.7% by weight                                           Potassium metaphosphate                                                                            0.3% by weight                                           Sodium sulfate       1.0% by weight                                           Total                100.0% by weight                                         ______________________________________                                    

Preparation of the gas-developing composition:

The following ingredients were dispersed throughout the sodiumbicarbonate granules in the following proportion to prepare thegas-developing composition.

    ______________________________________                                        Sodium bicarbonate granules                                                                         12% by weight                                           Glucose granules      70% by weight                                           Tartaric acid granules*                                                                             18% by weight                                           Flavor                proper quantity                                         ______________________________________                                          *This ingredient was prepared by mixing and granulating 80% by weight of     tartaric acid with 20% by weight of powder sugar (lactose if desired).   

Preparation of the chewing gum:

The sugarless chewing gum was prepared from the following materials inthe convention manner.

    ______________________________________                                        Gum base            25% by weight                                             Sorbitol            45% by weight                                             Mannitol            15% by weight                                             70% Sorbitol        10% by weight                                             Flavor and other additives                                                                        5% by weight                                              Total               100% by weight                                            ______________________________________                                    

Preparation of the gas-developing chewing gum:

90 parts by weight of the resulting sugarless chewing gum was heated andextruded from an extruder while 10 parts by weight of the gas-developingcomposition is injected into the center of the chewing gum. Thecenter-filled chewing gum thus obtained was cooled and stamped toproduce the gas-developing chewing gum.

For the purpose of comparison, the control gas-developing chewing gumwas prepared by homogeneously dispersing 10 parts by weight of a simplemixture of sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid into 90 parts by weightof the same sugarless chewing gum as prepared hereinbefore.

EXAMPLE 2

Preparation of the sodium bicarbonate granules:

The following materials were mixed and granulated to form granulescontaining no polyphosphates.

    ______________________________________                                        Sodium bicarbonate    98% - weight                                            Sodium sulfate        2% by weight                                            Total                100% by weight                                           ______________________________________                                    

Preparation of the gas-developing composition:

The following ingredients were dispersed throughout the sodiumbicarbonate granules in the following proportion to prepare thegas-developing composition.

    ______________________________________                                        Sodium bicarbonate granules                                                                         10% by weight                                           Glucose granules      75% by weight                                           Tartaric acid granules*                                                                             15% by weight                                           Flavor                proper quantity                                         ______________________________________                                         *This ingredient was prepared by mixing and granulating 80% by weight of      tartaric acid with 20% by weight of powder sugar (lactose if desired).   

Preparation of the chewing gum:

The chewing gum without sucrose was prepared from the followingmaterials in the conventional manner.

    ______________________________________                                        Gum base              30% by weight                                           Glucose               50% by weight                                           Lactose               5% by weight                                            Corn syrup            10% by weight                                           Flavor and other additives                                                                          5% by weight                                            Total                 100% by weight                                          ______________________________________                                    

Preparation of the gas-developing chewing gum:

90 parts by weight of the resulting chewing gum was heated and extrudedwhile 10 parts by weight of the gas-developing composition beinginjected into the center of the chewing gum. The center-filled chewinggum was then cooled and stamped to produce the gas-developing chewinggum.

Panel Test

After storage for one month under the condition of the room temperatureand the relative humidity of 80%, the inventive and the controlgas-developing chewing gums were organoleptically evaluated for agas-developing coolness and feeling by a panel comprising 100 persons,the results were shown in the following:

    ______________________________________                                                   Gas-developing                                                                          Stronger gas-developing                                             coolness  feeling                                                  ______________________________________                                        The inventive product                                                                      90          99                                                    (Ex. 1 and 2)                                                                The control product                                                                        10           1                                                   ______________________________________                                    

As apparent from the results, the gas-developing chewing gum accordingto the invention has more improved storage stability than the control.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for preparing a gas-developing chewinggum comprising the steps of granulating as a basic component 92 to 97parts by weight of a salt selected from the group consisting ofcarbonate, bicarbonate salt and mixtures thereof, together with 0.5 to2.0 parts by weight of a constituent selected from the group consistingof sodium sulfate and anhydrous sodium sulfate and mixtures thereof, andwith 0 to 5 parts by weight of a constituent selected from the groupconsisting of polyphosphates, sugars and organic acid salts and mixturesthereof; admixing 5 to 50 parts by weight of said granulated basiccomponent with 50 to 95 parts by weight of an acidic component selectedfrom the group consisting of fruit acid, fruit powder, sugar, flavoringagent and mixtures thereof to form a gas-developing composition; andthereafterintroducing 5 to 20 parts by weight of said composition into80 to 95 parts by weight of a chewing gum.
 2. The process as claimed inclaim 1, wherein 5 to 15 parts by weight of the gas-developingcomposition is introduced into a central cavity formed in said chewinggum to fill the same.
 3. A gas-developing chewing gum which is preparedaccording to the process of claim 1 or 2.